CHILDREN and staff at Oasis Academy in Warndon are hoping to become the first school to have an aquaponics system on their school grounds.

The school, based in Edgeworth Close in Worcester, is on the shortlist for our Cash for Schools competition, which encourages readers to vote for the school or schools they want to see awarded the biggest share of the £25,000 we are offering with Western Power Distribution.

The school would use the money to install an aquaponics system in to a fish pond — making them, according to staff, the first school to have one.

Fish will be used to create nutrient-rich water which makes the plants and herbs grow up to 50 per cent faster. The root-cleansed water then in turn helps the fish grow faster.

After a few months, the fish and plants will be sold and the process starts again.

The aquaponics will form part of the school’s innovative project curriculum, where children are immersed in real-life learning projects. They will run the initiative from planning the building to house the pond in, to working to manage the budget.

Project leader and year 5 teacher, Becky Anderson, said: "We want children to properly understand sustainability by being involved in rich projects that help them learn about how we can protect our environment, while developing a sense of wonder of the natural world around them."

You will find voting coupons in the paper every day for you to collect and send in to vote for your favourite projects.

You may send in as many coupons as you wish and vote for as many schools as you wish.

The school with the most votes will win the £5,000 top prize but the prize money will be shared between all 30 schools.

And now readers have an extra two weeks to make a difference to the school they think is the most deserving.

We have decided to extend the competition and will continue to print tokens in the paper every day until Saturday, November 28.

Readers will have until Friday, December 4 to send in the tokens.